Tag: UCLA Bruins basketball

Mick Cronin opens up on transfer portal, NIL transformation

It was a busy portal season for UCLA.

The UCLA Bruins basketball program had a terrific offseason and added a ton of players in the transfer portal. 

After missing the NCAA Tournament this past season, Mick Ceronin brought in some high-profile additions in the portal.

Cronin discussed the offseason with Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times and it shows how the times have changed due to various circumstances.

“It took us a year longer than I would have liked to get things where they needed to be and without naming names, there were obviously some people who really carried the weight,” Cronin said. “But there’s also grassroots level, so there’s literally people out there who are donating $10 a month, but we’re talking about people who don’t have that to give; their $10 a month is maybe hurting their pocketbook as much as somebody who gave $100,000.”

But, even with big-time additions and a team that is regularly picked as a top-10 program for the 2024-2025 season, Cronin knows they have to do it again next season.

“The craziness of it for now is, we had a good year in the portal and we were able to compete in free agency,” Cronin said, “but next year, you’ve got to be able to do it again.”

Mick Cronin chimes in on UCLA’s logjam of minutes

There will be a lot of minutes to distribute to a lot of talented players.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team will enter the season as an undisputed top-25 team and a potential threat to win the Big Ten Conference. 

The Bruins landed a large number of players in the transfer portal, and as such, they are among the favorites for the Big Ten.

Cronin opened up on the tough lineup decisions that are going to come with all of the talent this season but he didn’t seem too worried (h/t Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times).

“People say, ‘Well, they’re going to have this guy, they’re going to have that guy,’” Cronin said. “Well, first of all, if you’re a competitor and you really want to be on a great team that has a chance to win the Big Ten [Conference] in its first year and have a chance to go to a Final Four or compete for a national title, you should want other great players on the team. That’s No. 1. No. 2, in this day and age, everybody wants to go play in the NBA, don’t you think it would behoove you to play every day against another good player that would make you better and wouldn’t it help you get more exposure if you’re on a great team?”

Too much talent is never a bad thing, and that’s exactly what UCLA has this season.

Gabriela Jaquez Jr. with big game in Mexico’s Game 1 win

Gabriela’s team got the win!

Gabriela Jaquez, UCLA forward had a big game for team Mexico earlier this week. She was able to score 19 points and dish out 6 assists in the win over Mozambique.

The games run through August 25th, and this is part of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026. The games will be played in Germany. These games this week are held in Mexico City.

Last season, Jaquez scored 10 points per game. She had 30 points in a blowout win over Bellarmine early in the season. She played in all 37 games for the Bruins as a freshman and got two starts.

Her head coach Lindsey Harding met with the media following the game and gave big credit to Jaquez:

The next game for Mexico is against New Zealand. After that, they will take on Montenegro on Thursday. Jaquez is also known for her time joining the UCLA softball team, as they made a run to the College World Series.

Dominick Harris officially signs with UCLA men’s basketball

It’s official.

Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team picked up a big addition to the team on Tuesday. Dominick Harris, a graduate transfer from Murrieta California has committed to the team in an official form.

Harris will have two years of eligibility left. He was with Loyola Marymount last season and scored 14.3 points per game. Before that, he spent three seasons at Gonzaga. He was a medical redshirt in his second season at Gonzaga.

As a redshirt junior last season, he was eighth in the West Coast Conference in scoring. During his high school years, Harris was ranked 59th in the high school recruiting class.

Coach Cronin had this to say about the addition:

“We’re thrilled to have Dominick Harris join our program. He’s a talented and experienced player who grew up in Southern California and wants to be at UCLA. Dominick really thrived on offense last season, particularly as a deep threat. Clearly, he adds an element to our offense with his ability to make threes at a high rate. He took some major strides as a player last season, leading the WCC in three-point shooting percentage. But we also believe he can make a major impact on the defensive end and really help our team in a variety of ways.”

The addition of Harris is the sixth transfer for the Bruins heading into the 2024-2025. These, along with three freshmen will make for a whole new look when the Bruins take the court.

Mick Cronin credits NIL to transfer portal frenzy

Mick Cronin gives credit to NIL.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team added six high-impact players in the transfer portal this offseason. How did that happen?

Well, Mick Cronin discussed how things are different this time around than last year. And, it begins with NIL, per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.

“Our NIL grew exponentially,” Cronin told The Times this week, referring to the team’s name, image and likeness resources. “All you have to do is look at our recruiting class this year versus last year.”

The NIL landscape has drastically changed the world of college sports. While it took time for UCLA to reap the benefits, Cronin and the men’s basketball program have landed a lot of big names in the portal this offseason.

As time goes by, UCLA should be even to play a bigger factor in the NIL landscape.

Mick Cronin sends message to Trent Perry on NBA hopes

Trent Perry can certainly develop at UCLA.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball program got a massive commitment from Trent Perry after he decommitted from USC. 

Perry’s arrival in Westwood is expected to be a big one, although it remains to be seen what his role will look like in his freshman campaign.

Nonetheless, Mick Cronin revealed the message he delivered to Perry to land him in Westwood, and he used NBA players that went to UCLA as an example, per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.

Cronin’s message to Perry was that he was a winner who could help the Bruins raise their first national title banner in 30 years and enhance his NBA stock even if he didn’t start immediately, just like former first-round picks Russell Westbrook, Zach LaVine and Peyton Watson before him.

“It’s just a fallacy that you have to come in and play 35 minutes with the ball in your hands to make it in the NBA; it’s just not true,” Cronin said. “I mean, all you’ve got to do is look at Reed Sheppard, who didn’t start at Kentucky [except five games] this year and he’s going to go third or fourth according to every mock draft.”

That is a valid point from Cronin, and perhaps Perry made the right choice.

Mick Cronin dishes on how veteran presence has changed the game

The veteran presence is in effect.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team struck gold a lot in the transfer portal this offseason.

There are plenty of veterans coming into Westwood, something that has proven to be a success for other college programs.

Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times and Cronin talked about the changes in the sport.

“The days of having a young team and trying to grow that team to where they all get older and get better as they get older, that’s not happening anymore,” Cronin said. “And you can’t compete at a high level with a young team. So it’s exponentially changed in the direction of where you’re bringing in older guys to fill spots.”

The days of having four or five freshmen has become a rarity, especially for top teams and veterans and older players have been making more of a difference as of late.

Mick Cronin knows that, and it will be interesting to see if the 2024-2025 season is a replication of that.

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin discusses play at Pauley Pavilion

Mick Cronin chimes in on Pauley Pavilion games.

UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin feels he has the job he has always wanted. Cronin, as the head coach of the UCLA Bruins feels right at home coaching at Pauley Pavilion.

Cronin sat down with the Big Ten Network and talked about new teams coming to Pauley Pavilion, and how blessed he was to coach at the Bruins home location.

The head coach had this to say about Pauley Pavilion:

“Well, it’s a special place. I purposely begged UCLA to schedule Cincinnati back in the day to coach one game at Pauley. I never dreamed I would coach every game at Pauley.”

The Bruins struggled last season, but in the two previous seasons, UCLA went 58-14 under Cronin and went to the NCAA Regional Semifinal in both seasons. During those seasons, the Bruins were one of the best home teams in college basketball

You can hear the entire snippet with Cronin on the home-court advantage here:

UCLA basketball finalizes series with Arizona

UCLA vs. Arizona continues.

It was in the making for several weeks, and into months, but the UCLA Men’s Basketball team has finalized their agreement with the Arizona Wildcats.

The Bruins, led by head coach Mick Cronin are excited to get one of their former Pac-12 rivals back on the schedule. The first meeting will be as early as December. The Bruins and Wildcats are set to meet at the Footprint Center in Phoenix. This date is set for December 14th.

The second meeting during the 2025-2026 season will be played in Las Vegas. This will be part of the Hall of Fame Series at the T-Mobile Arena.

The final game of the contract, during the 2027-2028 season will be held in Los Angeles. The final location for this game has yet to be set.

These two teams last met on March 7th, with Arizona blasting the Bruins by 23 points. Currently, the Wildcats are on a three game winning streak in the series. In the all-time series, the Bruins lead 63-50. The Bruins held an 11-game winning streak from the late 1970s until the mid-1980s.

 

UCLA a finalist for Class of 2025 top-30 hoops recruit

UCLA is a finalist for this big recruit.

The UCLA Bruins basketball program continues to add high-ranked prospects. On Friday, they were mentioned as a finalist for Class of 2025 top-30 prospect Nikolas Khamenia, per Joe Tipton of On3.

The 6-foot-8 forward has a final list of Arizona, UCLA, Gonzaga, North Carolina, and Duke, so there is no storage of blueblood programs on his list.

According to Brandon Jenkins of 247Sports, Khamenia has visits set for Arizona on August 31, North Carolina on September 6 and Duke on September 13, so things could pick up quickly over the next few weeks.

He ranks 30th in ESPN’s top 100 list, so this would be a massive get and there are plenty of top options for him.

Khamenia confirmed the news with a photo on his X account with logos of each of the five programs.